The U.S. state of Utah has 27 official symbols, as designated by the Utah State Legislature, and three unofficial symbols. All official symbols, except the Great Seal, are listed in Title 63G of Utah Code.[1] In 1896, Utah became a state, and on April 3 the Utah legislature, in its first regular session, adopted its first symbol, the Great Seal of the State of Utah.[2]
Once found over most of the United States and Canada, elk herds have been decimated by hunting and habitat loss. Now, elk are only found in the Rocky Mountains. State owned Hardware Ranch provides feed for 600 elk every winter.[4]
The Beehive Cluster is an open cluster of about 1,000 stars and is located in the constellation Cancer. It was named the state's astronomical symbol due to having the same name as the state's emblem and nickname.
Named the state bird in commemoration of the "miracle of the gulls". In 1848, the pioneers were tending to their first harvest since they arrived in Utah, when Mormon cricket swarmed in and started to devour the crops. California gulls came in and ate the crickets, thus saving the crops.
The beehive symbolizes industry, which is the state's motto. Before the state of Utah, the provisional government of the State of Deseret also had the beehive as its emblem. Deseret means honeybee in the Book of Mormon.[8] The first bees brought to modern-day Utah were allegedly carried by Charles Crismon from the Mormon colony in San Bernardino, California.[9]
In 1997, the state fish became the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout replacing the Rainbow Trout, which had been the state fish since 1971. The Bonneville Cutthroat Trout is a native species to Utah, unlike the Rainbow Trout, and was an important source of food for the pioneers and Native Americans.
This is the final design adopted as a new state flag of Utah. The design evokes images of snowy mountains and red rocks to represent the geography of Utah, the beehive represents "Industry" (the state's slogan) and Utah's nickname as "the Beehive State".
Andrew Love Neff, in his book History of Utah 1847-1869, says "The Mormons love dancing... almost every third man is a fiddler, and every one must learn to dance... Let it be remembered that only square dances were indulged in."[15]
The semiprecious crystal is made from silicon, aluminium and fluorine. Utah topaz can be yellow, gold, red and pink in color. It is found in Juab, Tooele and Beaver counties.
Indian ricegrass is a perennialbunchgrass. The ricegrass is a vital food source for animals as it starts to produces green shoots in late winter and into spring, before other food sources start to grow. Native Americans would turn the seeds into flour for bread.[23]
Utah is home to the Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine, which has produced copper since 1906. The mine has produced more copper than any other mine in history.[29]
They are very common around the mid and high elevations of Utah. It was added to show how important in the decomposition and health of the forests in the state.
Named the state reptile following a lobbying campaign by Utah middle schoolers.[31] The Gila monster is the only venomous lizard native to the United States. Although the Gila monster is venomous, its sluggish nature means it represents little threat to humans.
The state seal contains a beehive in the middle, the word "industry" above the beehive and Sego Lilies growing on either side of the beehive. The bald eagle, two American flags, the date 1847, representing the year the pioneers arrived in Utah, and the date 1896, the year Utah became a state.
Written in 1996 for Utah's centennial celebration, it became the state song because school children "didn't like the current state song, Utah We Love Thee... that it wasn't very much fun to sing." Legislation presented by Dana Chambers Love on behalf of 4th graders from Davis county changed the song in 2003.
One of the stars composing the Big Dipper. Dubhe was chosen in 1996, the state's centennial, as it was supposedly 100 light years away. In actuality, the star is 124 light years away.[37]
Named for its similar appearance to honeycomb, the stone has origins in Duchesne County, Utah. Floyd Anderson was the first to discover it in 1995 and it can only be found in the Uinta Mountains. Honeycomb calcite is used as an accent for buildings.
The 80,000-year-old Pando aspen grove in central Utah is also considered to be among the Earth's largest and oldest living organisms.[42] The state tree was the Colorado blue spruce, prior to 2014.[43]
Sugar production in Utah was a huge enterprise from 1891 till 1920 and was dominated by the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. A blight, caused by the beet curly top virus, severely dampened production until 1934. Production continued to drop from pressures of cheaper foreign sugar until there were no sugar factories left in Utah by 1980.[46]
Designed to market Utah for tourism and business, the slogan alludes to Utah's mountains, its snow and skiing. Past slogans have included, "greatest snow on earth" and "Utah: This is Still the Right Place".
Although not an official state symbol that appears in Utah Law, Jell-O, particularly green Jell-O, often appears as a symbol and cultural stereotype associated with the state and its Mormon population. In 2001 a simple resolution by the Utah State Senate was passed recognizing Jell-O as "a favorite snack food of Utah."
Woods Cross is a city in Davis County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,761 as of the 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2019 of 11,431.
South Jordan is a city in south central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, 18 miles (29 km) south of Salt Lake City. Part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the city lies in the Salt Lake Valley along the banks of the Jordan River between the 10,000-foot (3,000 m) Oquirrh Mountains and the 11,000-foot (3,400 m) Wasatch Mountains. The city has 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of the Jordan River Parkway that contains fishing ponds, trails, parks, and natural habitats. The Salt Lake County fair grounds and equestrian park, 67-acre (27 ha) Oquirrh Lake, and 37 public parks are located inside the city. As of 2020, there were 77,487 people in South Jordan.
Deseret is a term derived from the Book of Mormon, a scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Latter Day Saint groups. According to the Book of Mormon, "deseret" meant "honeybee" in the language of the Jaredites, a group in the Book of Mormon that were led by God to the Americas after the construction of the Tower of Babel. Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley suggested an etymology by associating the word "Deseret" with the ancient Egyptian deshret, a term he translated as the "bee crown" of the Lower Kingdom, but which non-LDS scholarly sources translate as the "Red Crown".
The Beehive Flag is the official flag of the U.S. State of Utah. It is a horizontal tricolor with irregular bands of blue, white, and red. The middle white band contains a blue hexagon outlined in gold. Within the hexagon lies a gold-colored beehive, and below it sits a five-pointed white star.
The flag of Salt Lake City, representing Salt Lake City, Utah, consists of two horizontal bars of blue and white with a sego lily in the canton. It was adopted in 2020 after a city-wide contest to replace a previous flag.
Bonneville International Corporation is a media and broadcasting company, wholly owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation. It began as a radio and TV network in the Triad Center Broadcast House in Salt Lake City, Utah. Bonneville's name alludes to Benjamin Bonneville and the prehistoric Lake Bonneville that once covered much of modern-day Utah, which was named after him.
State Route 201 (SR-201) is an east–west expressway and freeway located in Salt Lake County in the U.S. state of Utah. Colloquially known by some as the 21st South Freeway, the route serves as an alternative to Interstate 80 (I-80) through Salt Lake City. From the western terminus of the route west of Magna, the highway heads east through Kennecott Copper property as an expressway before running through the western suburbs of Salt Lake City as a freeway. Shortly after the route returns on a surface route, SR-201 terminates on its eastern end at State Street.
Kennecott Utah Copper LLC (KUC), a division of Rio Tinto Group, is a mining, smelting, and refining company. Its corporate headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah. Kennecott operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world in Bingham Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah. The company was first formed in 1898 as the Boston Consolidated Mining Company. The current corporation was formed in 1989. The mine and associated smelter produce 1% of the world's copper.
The Cannon family is a prominent U.S. political family in the states of Utah, Nevada and Idaho which descends from the 19th century marriage of George Cannon and Ann Quayle before their emigration from Peel, Isle of Man. The family's most notable member was their oldest son George Q. Cannon. The family is connected by marriage to the Bennion, Taylor, Wells and Young political families.
John Milton Bernhisel was an American physician, politician, and early member of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was a close friend and companion to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Bernhisel was the original delegate of the Utah Territory in the United States House of Representatives and acted as a member of the Council of Fifty of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Sugar House Prison, previously the Utah Territorial Penitentiary, was a prison in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The 180-acre (73 ha) prison housed more than 400 inmates. It was closed in 1951 due to encroaching housing development, and all of its inmates were moved to the new Utah State Prison in Draper. The site is now occupied by Sugar House Park and Highland High School.
John Rockey Park was a prominent educator in the Territory and State of Utah in the late 19th century, and in many ways was the intellectual father of the University of Utah.
Arthur Stayner was an English horticulturist who emigrated to the United States and became important in the founding of the sugar beet industry in Utah.
References
General
"Symbols of Utah". Pioneer: Utah's Online Library. State of Utah. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
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